Rotary International and Partners Advance Global Polio Eradication Efforts
Rotary International, a key partner in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), continues its significant contributions to eliminate polio worldwide. The GPEI, which also includes the World Health Organization, the Gates Foundation, UNICEF, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, focuses on vaccination campaigns and environmental surveillance. Rotary has played a crucial role by immunizing 3 billion children, contributing over US$2.9 billion to eradication efforts, and helping secure more than US$11 billion from donor governments. While wild polio is now endemic in only Afghanistan and Pakistan, the virus's highly contagious nature and global travel mean that a single case can quickly spread, as evidenced by a polio case in New York, USA, in 2022, which was genetically linked to viruses found in London and Jerusalem. This highlights the ongoing risk until global eradication is achieved.
